Many of us will be looking to book summer holidays at this time of year, with plenty of deals to be bagged. But with this comes opportunities for online criminals, including invoice fraud, which is generally geared towards travel agents, building and law firms who often receive large one-off payments from customers.
In 2021, £56.7million pounds were lost to this type of invoice fraud, according to UK Finance. Invoice fraud occurs when criminals hack their way into the business email account and monitor all correspondence to find out when a payment from a customer may be due.
Once the customer is about to pay their bill, the hacker will insert themselves into the email chain with a near identical email address to provide their own bank details. They will also come up with an excuse as to why the details are different to the invoice.
You can keep yourself and your business protected, and not fall victim to the growing issue of invoice fraud!
How to help prevent succumbing to an invoice scam…
✓ Always verify new payment details with someone trusted – and make sure to do this before any outgoings leave the company.
✓ When checking the validity of the new change in payment information, make sure you use a number that you know is linked to the supplier – often fake invoices or mandates have scammers’ numbers or email addresses on them.
✓ If you need more clarification, you can always make a small test payment and check that the money has reached the intended recipient.
For further guidance on how to protect your business from all types of online crime and fraud please contact us on [email protected]
The NEBRC is a Police led non-profit organisation that seeks to educate, inform, and support businesses across the UK on how to stay safe online through strong cyber security practices.
The NEBRC offers all businesses within the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside regions free core membership to gain access to a wealth of handy cyber security resources and stay up to date with the latest news regarding the digital landscape. To sign-up click HERE